About GESTAR

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) awarded Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and partners (Morgan State University, I.M. Systems Group, Johns Hopkins University, Ball Aerospace & Technologies, and The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies) a five-year Cooperative Agreement for Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR) in May 2011. GESTAR conducts research collaboratively, mainly within GSFC's Earth Sciences Division, but also with Solar Systems Exploration Division, Office of Education, and Office of Public Affairs. Scientists and staff at GESTAR, in collaboration with NASA and other investigators, conceive and develop new space-based missions; provide mission requirements; conduct research that explains the behavior of Earth and other planetary systems; and create engagement media that tell NASA's story of exploration and discovery on Earth and beyond. In May 2016, NASA extended GESTAR for another five years (2016-2021) to the team of Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Morgan State University (MSU), I.M. Systems Group (IMSG), Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and Global Science and Technology (GST).

DR. ORESTE REALE, DIRECTOR, GESTAR

Effective February 16, 2019, Dr. Oreste Reale has been appointed Director, Goddard Earth Science Technology and Research (GESTAR). Dr. Reale joined USRA in 2011, and served as a Senior Scientist, Group Lead, and most recently, Associate Director on GESTAR. He has been a member of the NASA Sounder Science Team since 2011, and is currently Principal Investigator of a 3-year NASA grant focused on the assimilation of cloud-cleared radiances to improve forecast skill and tropical cyclone representation in the Goddard Earth Observing System Model. Prior to joining USRA, Dr. Reale supported Earth Sciences research at NASA Goddard for roughly ten years through the NASA-GEST cooperative agreement with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He received his Laurea in geophysical engineering from the University of Trieste, Italy; and his M.S. and Ph.D. in meteorology from the University of Maryland, College Park.